Hi everyone,
I'm planning on doing the london to athens trip in 2006 leaving london on Sept 10. Just wondering if anyone else is planning to go on the trip. I'm also thinking about adding 3 nights at the mykanos resort afterward aswell. So it would be great to hear if others were also going to mykanos!  

Hello
Im doing the london to athens tour but looking to go around early June. And then finishing up with the Mykanos tour in july. im thinking thats when it will be mid summer.. nice and hot ...cant wait !   

Thanks for your reply, you'll have to let me know how your tour goes when you get back! Especially about mykanos because I hear it's party central. I guess it's a little early to hear from anyone doing a tour later in next year? I'm just too organised, but I kind of have to be to get the good discounts on flights and the tour etc. Hope you have a great trip, Kiri.

Hey Kiri - I am going on the Sep 10th tour with 2 of my friends and my brother.  I feel like such a dork because I set up another thread without reading these pages first.  It is so cool to be going with another fellow kiwi - geez it was starting to look like we were seriously in the minority.  What part of New Zealand are you from?  My friend Kerry and I are on the east coast in Gisborne, my brother is in Wellington, and my best friend Traci is from Rotorua.  Just Traci and I will be continuing on after the Lon-Athens tour.  So far it is a toss-up between the Mykonos Resort, Egypt and The Nile, and The Aegean Classic Cruise.  I would love to hear back from you as the more the merrier.  So far it is driving me nuts because I am so excited about this trip!  My only piece of advice to you is to be careful what airline you book with.  I was reading about an airline that went bust and heaps of people missed out on their tour because the airline would'nt pay out.  Just make sure that you have a clause in your insurance to cover your flights - or go with a reputable company even if it does cost a little bit more.  I suppose I'm lucky because I work for Air New Zealand and so my friends and I are all travelling standby.  I tell ya what though - I will be packing myself until I arrive safely in London (coz we might get stranded in the USA yet)  lol  So there had better be some spare seats!!!  Hey keep in touch

Hey Allison,
Great to hear from someone! Esp a kiwi. I'm from Auckland and I will be coming from Scotland so I won't have to worry about international flights, just domestic ones. Thanks for the advice anyway.
Can't wait for the tour. I decided not to go on the mykanos trip in the end as I'll be staying for 5 weeks in Crete after the tour so I have plenty of time to go to the islands. But I'm definately keen to go to Egypt some time during those 5 weeks. And Turkey as well. I'll have a look at your other post and put something there. Nothing wrong woth having two.
Can't wait to meet ya, Kiri

So you are coming from Scotland eh?  Does that mean that I will easily spot you in the crowd as you will be the one wearing the kilt and eating haggis eh?  lol  Well no worries - I will do us Kiwis proud.....I am planning to try and eat some French snails (after drinking a considerable amount of booze first though)    Hey are you going to be in London for a few days before the trip?  I will prob stay the the Royal National Hotel (where Contiki is)  about 4 days in advance if all goes well with my flights.  Maybe we could hook up and swap some notes and drinks?  Oh, and I now know of 6 of us on the trip.  I found another girl called Debbie Tai (she seemed nice) - so together with us and my other 3 tvlg companions.....that brings the talley up to 5 Kiwis and 1 Canadian.  Looks like we are dominating eh?  I had prob better hurry up and figure out what my add-on tour is going to be, coz I heard that our trip is combined with those touring London-Rome.  I don't want to miss out!
Hope to hear from you soon - and anyone else that is tvlg
Peace Out

Yep Scotland would have been my home for 5 weeks, prob won't be dressed in a kilt but you never know I might decide that haggis is my new favourite food. So how did you meet Debbie? and I am a little bit slow so what does tvlg mean? I prob will be in London only the weekend that we leave so only one to two nights before depature but I'm definately keen to have some drinks and hang out there beforehand. Hopefully my boyf will be coming too so that will make it 6 kiwis so far. It would be nice to meet some other nationalities though.  Let me know if you find anyone else.
Kiri

hi kiri and allison, my name is megan, im from sydney in australia and am going to be joining you on the london to athens tour in sept 2006. its great to find some people who will be joining me on this trip... well it looks like the count goes to 2 non new zealanders and 5 new zealanders lol... would be great to hear from you.
megan

Hey Megan and everyone,
Thanks for joining our message thread! It's great to be able to talk to people beforehand as we can get to know each other a bit better. I'm getting so excited about going away. It's only 20 weeks before I leave NZ and can't wait, although I am stressing a bit about having enough money but hey hopefully I can save enough. I just thought that I haven't really said much about myself on the board so I'll let you guys know some details. I'm 24 and studying medicine at Auckland Uni. I'm going overseas for my elective which means working in hospitals for 10 weeks and three weeks of holidays in which I will be doing this contiki tour. I have never been anywhere except Aussie and NZ so it will def be an experience. Hope to hear from some more people too.
Kiri

hi,  I'm Tahnette, and as of right now I'm going to do the same tour as you,  I'm 34 from USA, and this is my first ever real vacation,   so cannot wait until Sept.    I was thinking of hanging out after the tour,  told my boss not not plan on my working again until     I actually make  it back to the states  lol    told him I was staying over until the money runs out  lol

hi everyone, dont worry kiri im stressing over money aswell lol... im just gonna save every spare dollar between now and when i leave and hope that its going to be enough, im getting so excited but nervous at the same time but its gonna be good. i should tell you abit about myself as well. im a 19 year old preschool teacher/child care worker from the blue mountains (just about 1.5 hours outside sydney for any of you who dont know where that is) and im taking this trip because its just something ive always wanted to do, especially visiting italy im so excited i cant wait, but who doesnt want to travel around europe like seriously, its unfortunate that for us aussies and new zealanders that it costs so much to get there.
plus im also going to take the opportunity while im in london to go and talk to the nannying agencies to find out about employment opportunities. is anyone going on the extended three day tour in greece??? ive decided to go, especially coz i realised that im not going to be able to afford to stay in london for as long as i was hoping for, so why not go hang out on a greek island pretty good compromise i thought lol

Oh yay the group is growing!  Yes I'm a slack tart for not saying hello for so long but I have been working out of town.  By the way Kiri, tvlg is short for travelling.  It's probably a good idea for you as well to work out of NZ for a bit coz what is happening to our dollar is just tragic.  And Megan, it is so funny that you are in Sydney because I might be flying there in about 3 weeks; will have to let you know.  Also, you might also want to look at the tour that I am doing after London-Athens before you book.  I have now officially decided that I will be doing the Aeagen Cruise.  It commences Oct 1 and cruises throughout the Greek Islands and even visits Kudasi (in Turkey) and it is pretty cheap.  You might want to have a look at it - you get to dock and explore the islands as well.  It's roughly about 6 days from memory and I have heard that it is the best food on the whole tour.
Well Tahnette, it's great to have an American onboard.  I will also be looking forward to catching up with you.
If everyone is doing character descriptions/introductions - then I suppose that I should say something too.  As everyone would have guessed by now I work for Air NZ and I occassionally work around in different bases in NZ.  I am nearly 28 and I have been wanting to go to Europe since I was 8 yrs old.  Sometimes I can be a bit of a tomboy as I am forever coming home with scrapes and bruises.  My best friend Traci  aka the hell raiser,  is in her early 30s and is an insurance broker.  She is definately the most colourful in the group and lives a vibrant and colourful life without limits......and the highlight of the tour will probably be her making a confession in the confession booth in the Vatican Chapel - yes I am sure that she would make a tidy profit if she were to sell it on the internet  lol.  Next comes my quirky friend Kerry who is also in her early 30s.  Kerry is a nurse and a hell of a dag.  Kerry is the person in the group that would probably take on the roll as the one to make you laugh.  She is a real hardcase and loyal to her mates.  She is also liable to make your nana swollow her false teeth with some of her stories!  And last but not least is my brother Gary.  Gary is 26 and is probably the sane one in the group.  Apparently we look almost like twins to his utter disgust  lol  Gary is a placid lad but very easy to get along with.  At the moment he is working in The Warehouse looking for a managerial role - but is also at a very transitional period of his life.  He is extremely interested in weather and he has always wanted to see a twister up close?!  You never know, he may just stay in Europe after the tour.
Well I guess I had better sign off now as I have written a novel.  PS has everyone already booked a place on this tour yet?  

Hi girls, My name is Angela, I'm another Canadian to add to the mix of our tour - just booked it today! I'll be in London by Sept. 4th as I have a few friends living there that I plan to visit before we head out on our adventure so if anyone wants to meet up and hang-out siteseeing that week in London let me know.

About me - I'm 28, it's my first adventure to Europe and my first trip abroad solo so I'm very very excited. I live in Vancouver, Canada and I work in Marketing & Communications. Can't wait to meet everyone

Hi Tahnette, I plan on staying an extra night in Athens and touring around an extra day flying back Oct. 1st in the evening to London. You are welcome to hang out with me until I fly out.

Angela